Hilton Garden Inn Toronto Airport – Green Building

Hilton Garden Inn Toronto Airport
Green Building
CASE STUDY
ABOUT THE HILTON GARDEN INN
TORONTO AIRPORT
The Hilton Garden Inn Toronto Airport is a
subsidiary of Hilton Hotels, a multi-million dollar
enterprise responsible for offering world-class hotel
brands which include Conrad Hotels, Embassy
Suites and Homewood suites by Hilton. Hilton
operates over 514 properties, and delivers its services
to over 170,000 hotel rooms spanning 70 countries
worldwide. The Hilton Garden Inn Toronto Airport
has been in operation since April 2009 and consists
of a 15-storey building featuring 224 upscale guest
rooms and luxurious suites, along with flexible
conference and banquet space for groups ranging
from 10 to 300 people.
Hilton Garden Inn Toronto Airport,
located in Mississauga
LOCATION
ADDRESS: 3311 Caroga Drive, Mississauga, Ontario
PHONE: 905-678-0041
WEBSITE: www.torontoairport.hgi.com
GREEN BUILDING - LEED® CERTIFIED BUILDINGS
LEADING THROUGH LEED® DESIGN
The Hilton Garden Inn Toronto Airport is leading the way for Canada’s hotel industry, as its
initiatives to move towards environmental sustainability make it a solid example to follow. The
Hilton Garden Inn Toronto Airport recognizes the importance of the environment and believes
that going green is investing in the future.
Hilton sees how their environmental initiatives can be addressed by acquiring LEED® certification,
which is a program that helps companies track and monitor their successes using international
cross-industry standards. The Hilton Garden Inn Toronto Airport is one track to become Canada’s
first LEED® Certified Hotel, which sets it as a flagship leader in green building. With an estimated
five to seven per cent cost over traditional construction, this project included features of water
savings, energy efficiency, environmentally friendly material selection, and environmental health.
LEADING THROUGH LEED® DESIGN
CASE STUDY
The goal of the new Hilton Garden
Inn Toronto Airport is to promote the
importance of living sustainably, while
leading by example. Hilton Hotels believes
that it is its corporate duty to be part
of the sustainability solution and have
created a unique setting in which everyday
employees and clients are conscious of their
contributions to improve the environment.
This project is set to help enhance the
performance of Hilton’s hotels, by building green.
Main Lobby
Maggie Martins, Director of Sales and Marketing says: “What separates us is overall sustainability.
We weren’t retrofitted to be greener, we were built green. It’s a much bigger project than adding a
blue-bin.”
Building green for Hilton Hotels meant looking at how environmental solutions are addressed
from the ground up, and investigating how the hotel operates from various viewpoints—builders,
workers, and customers, has proven to be an effective approach for meeting the company’s goals.
THE JOURNEY TOWARDS LEED® CERTIFICATION
The Hilton Garden Inn Toronto Airport project, capping off at $29 million in construction
costs, is what subtrades and consultants praise as “how a building should be built.” Generally,
commercially-focused projects have difficulty achieving LEED®, but with a holistic approach
to analyzing the project from site selection parameters to envisioning the routines of everyday
workers and clients, this project meets and exceeds the highly stringent LEED® standards.
Suite Interior
When building the hotel, addressing energy
efficiency and waste reduction were important
focuses of the project. Developers learned that
being on the lookout for alternative solutions
to building materials could save construction
costs, while making a greater impact on energy
conservation. For example, implementing
the $1.1 million pre-glazed windows cut
construction costs down by $500,000 from
the initial plan, and using building materials
containing recycled content helped the project
meet its LEED® standard goals.
Collaborating with local trades who specialized in helping developers achieve LEED® standards
was also highly valuable. Sky Window Technologies helped implement the pre-glazed windows
project, while land developers Kingslake Group coordinated various teams for construction
operations and ensured that communication between various trades went smoothly.
Other areas focused on to meet LEED® requirements included recycling of all paper, use of
regional materials, organic menu items, daylight usage, and “smart” systems for thermal comfort.
The paper used is compromised of 30 per cent or higher recycled material, and Hilton’s offices use
biodegradable pens and pencils.
Water conservation is also addressed by using low-maintenance plants for landscaping, which
helps create a minimal footprint, cutting down on water use. Investments have also been made in
new washing equipment, which reduces water consumption by 50 per cent.
CASE STUDY
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Finding the right location for the Hilton
Garden Inn Toronto Airport was a
challenge. The land around Pearson Airport
is Canada’s largest employment area, with
more than 12,500 businesses spanning over
12, 000 hectares, which leaves little room for
building a large-scale hotel. However, Hilton
Hotels wanted to expand their presence
in Toronto’s market to offer business
and leisure travelers sustainable options
while living abroad. Locating within close
Restaurant Great North American Grill and Pavilion Bar
proximity to the Airport would also allow
Hilton to exceed LEED® requirements of development density and community connectivity.
Hilton was determined to find the right location. However, locating within 0.6 km of the airport
put restraints to building the conventional Garden Inn, which is usually designed for large
suburban lots accommodated by above ground parking. Burlington’s Chamberlain Architects,
who specialize in hotel design, were recruited to devise a solution for the site that reflected Hilton’s
vision towards sustainability. The result was a structure built higher than the standard Garden Inn,
with a below ground parking structure and numerous energy saving features.
When construction started, builders ran into another challenge, discovering weak soil at the site
which caused the ground to slope. Fixing this dilemma by re-leveling the ground through shoring
delayed the construction process. Although it was a rigorous task to build on site, the results were
well worth it. Locating near existing high-density development adds extra points when ranking
off LEED® credibility. The company wanted to reach a broad clientele while offering sustainable,
yet affordable hotel services, and locating near Canada’s busiest airport is a tremendous asset for
Hilton to help people live more sustainably.
Aiming for LEED® standards has helped the Hilton Garden Inn Toronto Airport extend its
environmental integrity into the future, which in the long run, also helps the company cut
operation costs. The Hilton Garden Inn Toronto Airport knows that superior customer service
involves providing an experience where clients feel comfortable and safe, and building from the
ground up with environmental consciousness has helped to ensure this.
WHAT IS PARTNERS IN PROJECT GREEN?
Opportunities to gain a competitive advantage through sustainable business practices
are more attainable than you think. Partners in Project Green is a growing community
of businesses working together to green their bottom line by creating an internationallyrecognized eco-business zone around Toronto Pearson.
CASE STUDY
Through new forms of business-to-business collaboration, Partners in Project Green delivers
programming that helps businesses reduce energy and resource costs, uncover new business
opportunities, and address everyday operational challenges in a green and cost-effective
manner.
PEARSON ECO-BUSINESS ZONE
www.partnersinprojectgreen.com